Monthly Archives: December 2008

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At this rate, the City Section girls’ tennis singles and doubles champions might be crowned in January.

After having play postponed Monday because of rain, the second attempt at holding the finals at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino was washed away Wednesday, now putting 2 p.m. Thursday as the tentative time and date for the finals.

Despite the lack of inclement weather Tuesday, players and coaches were notified Friday by City officials that it would not be used as a make-up day because it was a section-wide staff development day.

In the singles title match, El Camino Real of Woodland Hills junior Samantha Jacobs will face Dorsey freshman Shayla Fulton in a battle of first-time finalists.

Fortunately for both teams, Thousand Oaks has FieldTurf, which should enable the Lancers and Warriors to play their 6 p.m. match as scheduled. Westlake had its match Monday at Royal of Simi Valley rescheduled for Jan. 12 because Royal has a grass field. Thousand Oaks played on Agoura’s turf field Monday and prevailed 1-0.

But the slick conditions on the field could lead to some unpredictable bounces and could cause trouble for Westlake goalkeeper Allie Altman and Thousand Oaks netminder Amanda Albi. Don’t be surprised if the inclement weather plays a factor in the match’s final outcome.

The teams played to a 1-1 tie under similar conditions at Westlake in their annual Super Soccer Saturday showdown in Jan. 2007.

Trying to figure out which area team has a tougher pool at the upcoming Mater Dei Premier Invitational girls’ soccer tournament is like determining whether you’d rather run a marathon or scale a mountain.

No matter how you look at it, the competition isn’t for the faint of heart.

In Group D — perhaps short for Group of Death — Thousand Oaks, the defending Southern Section Div. II champion, is paired with Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, Tesoro of Rancho Santa Margarita and reigning Southern California Div. I regional champion Long Beach Wilson.

In Group C, eight-time City Section champion El Camino Real of Woodland Hills is matched up with Foothill of Santa Ana, defending San Diego Section Div. III champion Cathedral Catholic of San Diego and Aliso Niguel of Aliso Viejo.

All matches take place at Mater Dei High, located at 1202 West Edinger Avenue in Santa Ana.

Thousand Oaks plays Long Beach Wilson at 5:25 p.m. Thursday in a rematch of last year’s Southern California Div. I regional final, won by Wilson 3-0. Harvard-Westlake faces Tesoro at the same time on an adjacent field.

As soon as Westlake girls’ soccer coach Frank Marino found out Monday’s Marmonte League opener at Royal of Simi Valley was postponed, it didn’t take him long to decide where he was going to spend his evening — Agoura High.

That’s where defending league and Southern Section Div. II champion Thousand Oaks was facing the host Chargers in one of the few area matches that took place as scheduled with the driving rainstorm washing away most of the local girls’ and boys’ contests Monday.

Marino had barely settled in when Alyson Birgel found Michelle Cruz in the first 55 seconds of the match to give Thousand Oaks a 1-0 lead, one the Lancers would protect for the next 79-plus minutes en route to an important road victory.

Thus, Westlake finds itself in a similar situation at 6 p.m. Wednesday as it did last season, when it travels to Thousand Oaks for one of the top rivalry matches of the young high school season.

Last season, the Warriors upset Thousand Oaks 1-0 on their home turf, handing the Lancers their lone league loss. It was also significant because it was the last match Thousand Oaks would lose on the field — the Lancers later forfeited a tournament contest because of transportation issues — until a 3-0 setback to Long Beach Wilson in the final of the Southern California Div. I regional tournament.

In the first half of Marino’s tenure at Westlake, the Warriors were the class of the league, the last team to go 14-0, accomplishing the feat in the 2002-03 season.

Thousand Oaks has been close in the past two seasons under coach Geoff Raives, losing two out of a combined 28 matches (21-2-5). Both of those losses have come against Westlake, although Thousand Oaks earned a small measure of revenge by knocking out the Warriors in the 2007 Div. II quarterfinals 1-0, after Westlake was forced to play the final 55 minutes a player down.

The Lancers are one of the area’s most explosive teams, with juniors Amanda Neveu, Birgel and Cruz complementing seniors Mary Madden, Megan Meyer, Taylor DeMirjian and Samantha Rivera.

But Westlake forward Andrea Todak is one of the league’s most improved players, and with Nicole Gilbert, Bridget Berman and Bianca Riazi providing enough offensive support in front of defenders Jackie Jacobson, Sara Riazi and Bri Linares, the Warriors have the necessary pieces to pull off another upset.

The match could come down to goalkeeping, where Westlake sophomore Allie Altman has a slight advantage over Thousand Oaks senior Amanda Albi having already played a full season at the varsity level.

If any local basketball coach wants to pick up any tips on fitness or conditioning their athletes to play 32 minutes, stop by the gym at Montclair Prep of Panorama City or call coach Bob Webb.

Despite fielding a roster of only seven players — six of whom played Tuesday against Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta — the Mounties (7-0) are applying full-court pressure throughout games and are relentless in their half-court defense.

Although Crescenta Valley had a roster nearly twice as deep as Montclair Prep, it was the Mounties that were winning the rebound battle and forcing turnovers during crucial stretches of the second half in a 52-42 victory in the quarterfinals of the Magnolia Park Optimist Club tournament at Burroughs High in Burbank.

“I let them know that if they don’t pick up two fouls in the first half, more than likely they’re going to play 32 minutes,” Webb said. “In order to do what we want to do (on defense), we have to be in good shape. But the girls have bought into it. It’s definitely challenging, but they know how important conditioning is for us.”

Montclair Prep turned the Falcons over 19 times and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, four in one possession when the outcome of the game was still in doubt midway through the fourth quarter. It was that same determination that led the Mounties to victories over Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, Oaks Christian of Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks en route to capturing the C.V. tournament title last week.

“Our main asset is defense,” said Stephanie Scamman, who finished with nine points, eight assists and two steals. “We know that’s what wins championships. When we’re playing good defense, we know our offense will come together.”

Montclair Prep held C.V. sharpshooter Cassie Pappas to 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting. The Mounties — led by Kim and Stephanie Scamman, Chantel Dooley and Alex Taylor — will need a similar defensive performance at 4:30 p.m. today in the semifinals against Valencia (6-0), led by Danielle Cavanagh, Starla Wright and Lindsey Hill.

“It’s going to be hard to turn around and do this again (Wednesday), but I thought we played one of our best halves of the year (in the second half against C.V.),” Webb said. “We hadn’t been down at halftime all year, so the girls showed character in coming back. That was important for me to see.”

One of the most successful coaching careers in the Los Angeles City Section came to an end Tuesday as Birmingham coach Ed Croson stepped down after nine seasons at the school and accepted the head coaching position at Chaminade.

In his nine seasons, Croson transformed Birmingham from a mediocre program into one of the area’s best. He won four City titles in nine years, amassing a record of 84-30. He also beat national powers like Long Beach Poly and Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.

Assistant coach Jim Rose will succeed Croson at Birmingham.

“We had a great time at Birmingham,” Croson said. “I really appreciate the time we had. We did a lot of great things in our time there. For me it’s just the chance to coach back at a Catholic school with a campus ministry. I’m a Catholic school guy. There’s a lot of things in my program I can’t do at Birmingham because it’s a public school.”

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